NYC woman accused of toting dead baby in bag indicted for murder

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An 18-year-old New York woman was indicted on murder charges on Thursday, two years after a retail store security guard found her carrying a dead newborn baby in a shopping bag, prosecutors said.

Tiona Rodriguez was charged with one count of second-degree murder for her son's death, which was ruled by the city's medical examiner as a homicide caused by asphyxiation, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement.

"I am confident that the experienced homicide and child abuse prosecutors in my office will see that justice is served in this tragic case,” Vance said.

An attorney for Rodriguez could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rodriguez gave birth to the eight-pound boy in the bathroom of a friend’s apartment in Queens in October 2013, prosecutors said.

The next day, a security guard working at a Victoria's Secret store stopped Rodriguez after spotting her shoplifting, asked to look through her shopping bag and found the body inside, prosecutors said.

Rodriguez, who had hidden two previous births from her family, planned for weeks to kill the newborn, prosecutors said in bail documents.

She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.